Each holiday season, the Arya Foundation ensures that children with special needs receive an empowering gift. The nonprofit provides families in need with adaptive toys to help kids play independently—and that’s just the beginning of how the foundation supports children with disabilities. T&S spoke with co-founder and director of development, A.J. Kokate, to learn more about its mission and work.
Why was the Arya Foundation created?
Arya is my sister, and the foundation was created in her memory. She was born on Valentine’s Day in 2004 and passed away in 2009. Our family received amazing support from the community, and we wanted to give back. A major struggle point for families of children with special needs is the cost. We established the Arya Foundation to fill in the gaps that insurance and other funding don’t cover. Our goal is to turn difficulties into smiles, so kids with disabilities can live more fulfilling and healthful lives.
What is the organization’s mission?
Along with helping provide families with adaptive equipment, we want to enable people to see through the lens of children with special needs. Education is an important piece of our mission. We want to help turn challenges into opportunities.
How do you educate people about disability?
Every year, we organize the Disability Awareness Convention in Chesterfield. It will be Feb. 23 at the DoubleTree by Hilton. The convention is free, and we work with various organizations around Missouri and Illinois to showcase resources and services available to children and adults with special needs. For 2024, we had more than 50 partners for the event, including Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital and Easterseals Midwest. We cover a wide range of topics from helping adults transition to the workforce to teaching about the different equipment available.
Tell me about the Holiday Adaptive Toys initiative.
Making toys accessible, even if it’s something that seems simple like a walking teddy bear, increases the price exponentially. Adding a button or switch can lead to eight to ten times higher the cost, so toys that were originally around $25 to $30 are now $250 to $300. We wanted to figure out a way to get toys to children with special needs to ensure they can play without assistance. This is the sixth year of the program. We mainly focus on switch adapted toys, but we provide other varieties that may be useful to families. This year, we’re having a gift giving day for the first time. On Dec. 21, we will host around 60 families. Along with giving out presents, we’ll have a photo opportunity with Santa. For many of our families, holiday photos can be a challenge to arrange, and we wanted to create an easy environment for them to enjoy the season.
Do you have other programming?
We also have a unique jewelry-making program. We bring together kids with special needs and volunteers to make earrings and bracelets. It has big benefits for motor skills as well as helping the children connect and socialize with peers. We then sell the jewelry to help support our programming. It’s available at our commerce site, TAF House, and we also visit craft fairs. People can find us at Lindbergh High School Nov. 23 and 24.
How can people support the Arya Foundation?
Our favorite way to connect with the community is through volunteers. We are 100% volunteer-operated. Because of that, 90% of donations are able to go to families in need. We always can use help with our events, whether it’s jewelry making or the Disability Awareness Convention. On Dec. 3, we’re looking for help with wrapping the adaptive toys for families. Volunteers make the Arya Foundation what it is.
For more information visit, thearyafoundation.org.
To shop TAF House, visit thetafhouse.com.